Share

Sing Down

Overview:

The best intergenerational
activities are those that have an inherent appeal to people of all ages. This
includes things like eating, visiting interesting places, talking, and
dancing. Singing is another medium that
works great for intergenerational engagement.

The
“sing down” activity brings young people and adults together in a family/community
fun kind of way as they share their favorite songs with one another. It is also
a competition insofar as all participants are broken into 4 teams and
challenged to come up with as many song segments as they can for each of
several categories such as “songs that mention a color” and “songs that refer
to a season.”

Participant Requirements:

This activity can work with
anywhere from 10-100 participants. Ages
of participants: 3-4 years and above. [There
needs to be one person to run the event (the M.C.), and an assistant.]

Objectives:

Participants
will share the songs they know, learn new songs, and gain some insight into the
generation-specific trends that have influenced each others lives.

Materials/Resources:

4 clip boards and pads of paper

One
large blackboard, white board, or large pad of paper (on easel)

Prizes.
Ideally at least something small for all participants, with something a bit
nicer for ¼ of the participants (the winning team).

Steps:

The sing down activity can be
conducted in several ways. Here is how it can work with an multi-generational
group, such as at a kinship care retreat.

Break into 4
teams: This can be done before the activity, e.g., by color coding
participants’ name tags, or on the spot at the activity. If there are families involved in the
activity, try to keep members of each family on the same team.

Give each
team a clip board and a pad of paper. [Have each team choose a recorder (to
write down the names of the songs that each team generates).]

Begin the “Sing Down”
Competition

The M.C. will shout out a category, e.g., “Songs
that mention a color.” Give an example of a song that fits in this category,
e.g., “Mary had a little lamb. It’s fleece was
WHITE as snow…”

For about 10 minutes, have each team huddle up
and come up with as large a list as possible of songs that team members know
that fit into this category. For them to list a song, the one who introduces it
needs to teach at least one sentence of the song to other members of the team
so the team can sing it together when called upon (see below).

Then the M.C. starts selecting teams, one at a
time to share their songs. If a team
repeats a song that has been sung by another team, they have to select another
song. Teams continue to be selected to
share a new song until they run out of songs.
The last team left wins 3 points.
The assistant records the points on the front board.

Repeat for other categories.

Some possibilities for additional categories of
songs:

Songs that refer
to a season.

Songs that refer
to a temperature (e.g., hot, cold, warm,
etc.).

Songs that
mention the word “love”.

Songs that have
a color in it.

Songs with a
number in it. [E.g., “One, two, three
o’clock rock…”]

Any other ideas????

Considerations:

To add to the excitement and to
emphasize that this is an exercise in teamwork, the M.C. and assistant can give
teams “spirit” points (for how loud they sing) and “unity” points (for how they
sing together as a group).